 |
 |
 |
 |
| US / UK | US / UK | US / UK | US / UK |
NB: If you are looking for the hypnotic audio sessions, please click here.
Self hypnosis is one of the most useful areas of hypnosis, allowing you to maximise your creative potential to accomplish whatever you desire from life. Even if you were primarily attracted to other areas of hypnosis you will still find this area of study invaluable. If you are interested in stage hypnosis, these techniques will give you the confidence required for a successful performance. If you are more attracted to hypnotherapy, use self hypnosis to develop a positive attitude; an essential tool for therapeutic use.
Learning to become a hypnotist can be an arduous task. Self hypnosis can provide you with the valuable practise and experience required to perfect your induction techniques. In addition to this, you are also able to use self hypnosis to improve your abilities as a hypnotist, making it one of the most useful tools available for anybody interested in developing their skills.
Even if you have no further interest in hypnosis, self hypnosis will benefit you in many ways. You can improve all areas of your life, overcome disabling fears, increase your confidence, remove negative or disempowering habits, heal injuries and maintain a healthy vitality. The options available to you are as wide and varied as your imagination. Self hypnosis is very powerful and incredibly accessible, using these simple techniques will have a massive impact on your future.
Although conventional sleep is not the same as hypnosis it does share certain characteristics that make it a very useful state for planting suggestions in your subconscious mind. During normal waking consciousness, suggestions are evaluated for credibility before they are accepted or rejected into the deeper levels of the mind, where they are able to elicit change. As we relax into sleep our critical conscious minds become subdued, in a similar way as during the progressive relaxation induction method. It is possible to use this natural trance state to plant suggestions directly into the subconscious with little or no knowledge of self hypnotic induction techniques.
As you begin working with self hypnosis you should maximise your potential by taking advantage of this natural state immediately. You are thus able to program yourself to learn hypnosis quickly and proficiently by creating suggestions that encourage and develop the abilities required. You can start this process as soon as you have developed your suggestions, and you should practise it every night in order to obtain the best, and fastest, results.
There are three ways to use this technique and you should try them all to see which method suits you best. With each method you first need to develop your suggestions, you will learn more about this in the 'creating the therapy' section below. If your suggestions are easy to remember and relatively short then you need only repeat them to yourself as you drift off to sleep. If possible you should do this aloud, although sub vocalising the suggestions will work just as well. Don't simply go through the routine, really mean the suggestions and say them with compassion and determination, knowing that they will be accepted by your subconscious mind as you sleep. Completely expect and accept with absolute faith and certainty that your suggestion will be planted, like seeds, deep into your subconscious mind. Know that as you sleep these seeds will grow and your reality will change to compliment them.
As you sleep your subconscious mind will continue to develop these suggestions and ideas without the distraction of conscious thought.
If your suggestions are too long to remember then you need to reduce them. The second method is to reduce your suggestions to a single word or phrase that, when repeated, reminds you of your suggestion. For example, if you suffer from physical illness and have develop a set of specific positive affirmations to alleviate your symptoms, you can reduce your suggestions to the word 'health'. As you repeat this to yourself over and over while you drift off to sleep your subconscious mind will know your intentions and plant the necessary seeds of suggestion to accomplish the desired changes.
The third method is to reduce your suggestions to an image or symbol. This works particularly well if you are a predominantly visual thinker. As you drift off to sleep imagine your symbol getting bigger and brighter, visualise it being drawn to you and enjoy whatever develops. I often use this method to aid manifestation by imagining a seed deep within my mind beginning to grow as I relax into sleep. The seed represents my desires and as I watch, it's roots spread out through my entire being. The roots nourish the seed from within, illustrating that whatever I desire is already in me, simply waiting to be released. Soon a small shoot appears that grows into a wonderful sampling, spreading out through the top of my head slowly encasing me within a maze of foliage. As the plant begins to bloom my symbol grows like fruit from every branch.
You can play with this meditation or develop your own, it is a very powerful and effortless way to program your subconscious mind. The wonderful thing about this method is that you are able to see changes almost immediately, as they first manifest in your dreams. As you continue the practise the changes slowly but surely filter down through the denser vibrations of reality to the physical plain. When this happens you will have realised the potential of your desires and your suggestions will have become your reality.
The content of your therapy is largely dependant on your chosen method of
induction; if you are going to record a script onto cassette and listen to it,
then you will have to develop some positive affirmations to elicit the change
required. To do this you need to first make a list of what you want to achieve.
Some people find it easier to make a list of what they don’t want and use this
to decide what they do. For example, if you want to stop smoking then you should
have, ‘become a non-smoker’ on your want list. It is important only to include
things that you want, and keep them positive. ‘I want to stop smoking’ is not
positive, and will simply not work as it focuses your mind on what you do not
want to have, which causes you to want it more! Instead, only use positive
statements, such as ‘I want to be a non-smoker’.
When you have your list of statements ready you need to change them into the
present tense, so ‘I want to be a non-smoker’ becomes, ‘I am a non-smoker!’ Keep
working through your list until you have turned each of your wants into haves,
and double check to make sure they are all positive, (also make sure you really
do want them!)
When you are finished, you will have a list of suggestions that you can simply
record onto a cassette, and listen back to. Some people like to record an
induction script on the tape first , others prefer to leave a blank section of
around 15 minutes to allow time to put themselves into a trance state using
whatever method they desire. After 15 minutes of silence the suggestions kick in
and the therapy work begins. You may like to fill your 15 minutes with soothing
music to help you to relax into a trance. Try each approach and see what works
best for you.
In order to enter the trance state you will need to go through an induction
process. This is a lot easier than most people imagine, as focussed attention
and relaxation often bring about a sate of trance very naturally, so you should
develop a method that takes advantage of this, and with which you are
comfortable.
Some people simply focus on their breathing and repeat the word ‘sleep’ quietly
to themselves on each out breath. This is perhaps one of the simplest methods of
induction. There are more complex techniques that are designed to bring your
attention into sharp focus.
One method, that many people find particularly useful, is to make statements
about your perception of the environment using each of your senses in turn, each
time becoming more precise. Such as, I can see the glass, I can see the liquid
in the glass, I can see the bubbles in the liquid, I can see the room reflected
in each tiny bubble. I can hear the sound of my breathing, I can hear my
internal dialogue, I can hear the tone of voice of my thoughts, I can hear the
pause that fills the space between my words. I can feel myself in the chair, I
can feel my shirt on my skin, I can feel my shirt moving against me as I
breathe, I can feel my breath leave my nostrils.
You should make four statements just like this for sight, hearing and touch, and
then move onto three for each, then two, and finally one. It doesn’t matter if
you repeat yourself. By the time you have done one of each if you re not in a
trance state simply start again at four and keep going.
Another popular method of induction is to simply record a script onto a cassette
and listen to it while you relax, or if you prefer, you can listen to a ready
made script that you have purchased. Some people actually perform the hypnosis
themselves, and separate their mind into a hypnotist and a patient, using their
internal voice to go through an induction as though it is for someone else. As
with the therapy, try out a few different ideas and see which works best for
you.
If you would like to learn more about self hypnosis, please take a look at the selection of books featured below. To view the title, hover the mouse pointer over the book image. For further details (including online reviews, synopsis, larger image and ordering information) click on the link below the book. Use the UK or US links depending on your location. (both sites ship worldwide)